Calcium reactor help

[john90009]

Is it possible that when you run a calcium reactor with a ph monitor that if your bubbles per second is at 1, but your effluent is dripping faster then 1 per second that the ph in the reactor will never go down the tiny degree to tell it to turn off because the drip is faster then the c02 going in. This is kind of my situation i starts at 1 bubble every like 1.5 seconds and my monitor was up at 7.4 because my alk was high and not going down. I have the effluent at a super slow drip- alittle bit faster then my bubbler counter. Now that the alk is finally starting to go down i am turning the monitor down so the alk rises but i am noticing it is taking alot longer for the numbers to change and the monitor to tell the reactor to turn on. please anyone enlighten me.

 

[john90009]

thanks i remember reading that a long time ago- my question is tho say you set your bubbles at 1 per second and your drip is a drip a second or faster. Isnt it impossible for the ph in the reactor to change because the c02 that s going in at 1 bubble per second is just getting flushed out and replenished by the effluent thats the same speed or even faster?

 

[Paul_N]

That is what they refer to as initially getting it "dialed in". You need to find the effluent flow and bubbles per second that will give you the reactor ph of 6.5-6.8 range you want and also not drop the ph of the tank too much. So yes if the effluent flow is too high then the ph will never drop low enough but the ph in your tank will start to drop too much. I have mine set to 1 bubble/sec and my effluent just below a steady stream. When I initially set mine up I put the bubbles at 1/sec and just messed with the effluent.

 

[110reef]

thanks i remember reading that a long time ago- my question is tho say you set your bubbles at 1 per second and your drip is a drip a second or faster. Isnt it impossible for the ph in the reactor to change because the c02 that s going in at 1 bubble per second is just getting flushed out and replenished by the effluent thats the same speed or even faster?

That makes the assumption that 1 bubble of CO2 equals one drop of water, which is not the case. One bubble of CO2 will generate more than one drip of acidified water.

 

[john90009]

i didnt mean to assume but when it was at that level it was sitting t 7.1 for more then ten minutes having a problem of getting to 7.0 and stopping lol. Hmm like eveyone has told me so far turnt he monitor back to 6.8 and go with 1 bubble per second. but i was thinking if i did that then it would cause a shock because my alk would either go up relle high or low. i tried the 1 bubbler per second and the effluent was alittle faster and it took a relle long time for the c02 to build up for the monitor to turn off i feared that it would never hit the stopping point and just continue to bubble all night dropping the tanks ph. So i dont relle know what to do

 

[juiceguy]

If your alk is rising according to how you are running the reactor, i think you should put the reactor on a timer and not run it 24/7. it sounds as if you do not have a high demand for alk/cal.

all reactors run basically the same way:
CO2 dissolves media at a controlled rate for that reactor (6.1-6.8)
effluent control to reach the desired DKH...30 - 40 is usually desired

once you establish these criteria, then you could monitor how often you need ALK and determine if your reactor should run 24/7.

 

[john90009]

when my tank was growing with 30 sps corals and a few large colonies the demand was high but after shocks and blackouts alot of corals are stressed and stunned. My alk in the tank now hovers around 8.5 and the monitor is set at 7.0-7.2. now that a few corals are recovering and showing growth again im going to see the alk drop and then lower the monitor more right?And i dont have a monitor on the tank just a ph monitor in the reactor.

 

[john90009]

does any of the media dissolve at 7.0-7.5 because i have it run like that awhile back and i definitely need to add more i went through half a reactor.

 

[juiceguy]

you may want to invest in a ph controller this way you can automate the CO2.

i do not know of any media that dissolves at that ph range, most media is designed to dissolve at 6.8 and lower depending on the media. the whole premise of having a Cal reactor is stability of available Alk/Cal.

i run my Deltec only 12hrs a day at 6.2ph and maintain Alk at 8 and Cal at 470 with over 60 sps

 

[john90009]

i have a ph monitor controller on the reactor tells it when to turn on at 7.2 then bubbles come and turns off at 7.0(this what you mean)